This review discusses the (soft matter) physics of food. Although food is generally not considered as a typical model system for fundamental (soft matter) physics, a number of basic principles can be found in the interplay between the basic components of foods, water, oil/fat, proteins and carbohydrates.

Owing to their solution processability, tunable bandgap, high emission yields and strong optical absorption, perovskites have emerged as novel low-cost materials for optoelectronic applications. However, many fundamental key aspects remain unsolved, e.g. regarding the nature of charge transport of methylammonium lead halide films. In this work, we demonstrate that charge mobility is limited by interactions with acoustic phonons, which constitutes an inherent limitation of the material.

The first triple-stimuli-responsive materials with pH-, temperature-, and redox-sensitivity are prepared. Ferrocene-containing PEGs exhibit triple-responsive behavior in solution and on surfaces: their redox response can be switched by temperature and pH making this material useful for catalysis and electrochemical applications. In addition, these polymers are used for surface modification to generate triple responsive glass surfaces.

Varying modes of solid-state packing for organic π-conjugated molecules have played a pivotal role in the field of organic electronics. Spatially extended heteroacenes, especially electron-acceptor molecules were hardly considered. Herein, four layered electron acceptors equipped with terminal 1,2,5-thiadiazole groups have been constructed using a one-pot protocol of acene dimerization. Photophysical and electrochemical properties of these molecules present a marked dependence on conjugation length and molecular geometry. An aggregation-induced emission peak and an intramolecular excimer emission band were observed. This work paves the way for the efficient synthesis of layered heteroacenes.

Biological macromolecules like DNA are chiral and are exclusively made of building blocks with the same handedness. Because of their ubiquity, it has been long supposed that this “homochirality” is a prerequisite for supramolecular crystals. Now researchers of the University of Pennsylvania, the Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research, and the University of Sheffield challenge this assumption. They discovered a class of molecules that can produce a double helix more consistent and more highly ordered than that of DNA, despite being made of a random mix of left- and right-handed building blocks. This discovery opens the door for highly ordered materials, suitable for organic electronics, made from a mix of chiral building blocks, which are easier to synthesize and relatively inexpensive, compared with enantiomerically pure compounds.

A joint research group, consisting of Osaka Institute of Technology and the MPI-P, has developed a new adhesive that starts out as powder but transforms itself into glue for hard-to-reach places when pressed. This represents a promising application for liquid marble technology.